a.    ~y  '•>•& 


THE  PAN-AMERICAN 

CONFERENCE 
AT  BUENOS  ATRES 


BY  DR.  WILLIAM  R.  SHEPHERD  QJ  RE- 
PRINTED FROM  THECOLUMBIAUNIVERSITY 
QUARTERLY  fTfe  fTt  JUNE,  191 1 

feEsJsgsr  fe^sJtsJlP 


[  reprinted  from  THE  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  QUARTERLY,  Vol.  XIII.,  No.  3,  June, 


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THE  PAN-AMERICAN  CONFERENCE  AT 
BUENOS  AYRES 

WENTY  years  have  elapsed  since  the  United  States  and  the 
republics  of  Latin  America  first  met  at  Washington  for  dis- 
cussion of  their  common  interests  and  problems.  Inaugurated  at 
that  time  in  a  spirit  of  experimentation,  the  organization  that  is 
known  officially  as  the  "International  Conference  of  American 
States,"  and  popularly  as  the  "Pan-American  Conference,"  has 
since  become  a  permanent  feature  in  the  foreign  policy  of  the 
twenty-one  independent  nations  of  the  Western  Hemisphere. 

While  differences  in  race,  language  and  other  characteristics 
exist  among  these  states  of  English,  Spanish,  Portuguese  and 
French  origin,  the  experience  of  four  successive  conferences  has 
emphasized  the  fact  that  such  differences  are  less  material  than  are 
the  elements  of  similarity  which  mark  the  course  of  their  respective 
development.  The  elements  in  question  are  found  chiefly  in  the 
ideas  and  practices  arising  out  of  struggles  for  independence  and 
for  the  assurance  of  stability  and  progress  under  conditions  quite 
remote  from  those  of  the  Old  World.  The  application  of  republican 
forms  of  government,  the  presence  in  relatively  large  numbers  of 
Indians,  negroes  and  other  more  or  less  dependent  peoples,  the 
influx  of  European  immigration,  the  employment  of  foreign  capital 
and  the  possession  of  vast,  natural  resources  yet  to  be  exploited  are 
all  so  many  manifestations  of  essential  similarity  among  the  Ameri- 
can republics.  Many  of  the  problems  and  policies  connected  with 
them,  of  course,  are  best  determined  by  the  nations  directly  con- 
cerned; others,  it  is  now  recognized,  may  be  settled,  or  the  way^to 
settlement  indicated,  more  efficaciously  when  submitted  to  the  joint 
consideration  and  recommendation  of  an  international  body  such  as 
the  Pan-American  Conference.  Its  "true  function,"  then,  to  quote 
the  expressive  language  of  the  official  instructions  to  the  delegates 
of  the  United  States  to  the  Third  Conference,  held  at  Rio  de  Janeiro 
in  1906,  "  is  to  deal  with  matters  of  common  interest  which  are  not 
really  subjects  of  controversy,  but  upon  which  comparison  of  views 

299 


30O  Columbia  University  Quarterly  [June 

and  friendly  discussion  may  smooth  away  differences  of  detail, 
develop  substantial  agreement  and  lead  to  cooperation  along  com- 
mon lines  for  the  attainment  of  objects  which  all  really  desire." 
An  assembly  of  deliberation  and  proposition  only,  its  conventions 
and  resolutions  are  framed  with  the  intention  of  suggesting  to  the 
governments  of  the  nations  concerned  a  course  of  action  on  given 
points  which  may  be  helpful  in  solving  many  of  the  difficulties  that 
confront  the  process  of  advancement  toward  national  welfare. 

In  commemoration  of  the  fact  that  the  year  1910  was  one  of 
especial  significance  as  the  centennial  of  the  beginnings  of  the  great 
revolutionary  movement  that  culminated  in  the  emancipation  of 
Spanish  America,  the  government  of  the  United  States  appointed  a 
delegation  to  the  Fourth  Conference  larger,  and  in  some  respects 
more  representative,  than  any  of  its  predecessors.  As  befitted 
membership  in  an  international  gathering  the  deliberations  of  which 
would  be  guided  by  considerations  of  law,  finance,  commerce,  poli- 
tics and  diplomacy,  recognized  authorities  in  these  spheres  of 
thought  and  action  held  a  prominent  place  on  the  delegation.  Four 
of  our  universities  were  represented  directly.  One  of  the  delegates 
and  the  chief  secretary  of  the  delegation  came  from  Columbia, 
while  California,  Illinois  and  Wisconsin  were  each  represented  by 
one  delegate. 

The  sessions  of  the  Conference  were  held  in  the  great  hall  of  the 
new  Palace  of  Justice,  the  seat  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  one  of  the 
many  magnificent  buildings  that  adorn  the  capital  city  of  the  Argen- 
tine Republic.  Luxuriously  furnished  for  the  occasion  and  fes- 
tooned with  the  flags  and  escutcheons  of  the  states  participating, 
the  hall  was  in  every  sense  a  fit  meeting  place  for  this  council  of 
American  nations.  Here  and  elsewhere  in  the  building  all  that 
might  possibly  conduce  to  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  the  dele- 
gates was  provided  by  the  Argentine  government  in  lavish  abund- 
ance and  absolutely  free  of  cost.  Their  mail,  telephone  calls,  tele- 
grams, cablegrams  and  other  messages  were  transmitted  gratis  by 
an  elaborate  service  .especially  installed  for  the  work  of  the  Con- 
ference. Excellent  luncheons  catered  to  their  inward  refreshment. 
Competent  attendants,  interpreters,  translators,  stenographers,  type- 
writers and  other  clerical  assistants  were  ever  available  at  their 


191 1]  The  Pan-American  Conference  301 

beck  and  call.  As  if,  also,  the  manifestations  of  Argentine  courtesy 
and  hospitality  were  not  already  grateful  enough,  each  delegate  was 
presented  with  a  beautiful  souvenir  portfolio  of  silver-mounted 
leather,  with  handsome  photographs  of  the  Conference  in  session, 
and  with  a  valuable  collection  of  books  on  Argentine  subjects  which 
were  later  boxed  and  sent  to  his  home  at  the  government's  expense. 

Outside  of  the  Conference  building  proper  every  effort,  official 
and  private,  was  made  to  render  the  lot  of  the  members  of  that 
body  one  altogether  free  from  symptoms  of  homesickness.  In  its 
brilliant  garb  of  bunting,  banners  and  illuminations,  worn  ever  since 
the  centennial  celebration  in  May  last  of  the  Revolution  of  1810, 
the  great  city  of  Buenos  Ay  res,  with  its  million  and  a  quarter  inhabi- 
tants constituting  the  second  Latin  city  of  the  world,  seemed  a 
virtual  embodiment  of  the  old  Spanish  phrase,  "  At  your  disposal ! " 
Balls  and  receptions,  banquets  and  excursions,  operatic  perform- 
ances, horse-racing  and  other  modes  of  entertainment  claimed  every 
spare  minute.  Whether  at  the  Colon  Theater,  next  to  that  in  Paris 
the  finest  opera-house  in  existence,  at  the  home  of  the  Jockey  Club, 
comparable  only  with  the  best  of  New  York  club-houses,  or  at  its 
superb  race-course,  at  the  elaborate  edifice  of  "La  Prensa,"  with- 
out an  equal  as  a  great  newspaper  enterprise,  or  at  the  modern 
palace  of  some  Argentine  grain  or  cattle  king,  the  visitor  from  the 
United  States  could  hardly  conceive  that  all  this  splendor  was  actu- 
ally to  be  found  in  "  South  America,"  the  stereotyped  realm  of  the 
occasional  earthquake  and  the  perennial  revolution! 

The  sessions  of  the  Fourth  Conference  were  officially  opened 
on  July  12  by  Dr.  Victorino  de  la  Plaza,  the  minister  for  foreign 
affairs  and  vice-president-elect  of  the  Argentine  Republic.  Of  the 
twenty-one  independent  nations  of  America  twenty  were  repre- 
sented by  some  sixty-two  delegates  in  all,  as  compared  with  the 
nineteen  republics  represented  by  fifty- four  delegates  in  attendance 
upon  the  Third  Conference  at  Rio  de  Janeiro.  The  sole  absentee 
was  Bolivia.  As  honorary  presidents  the  Conference  elected  the 
Hon.  Philander  C.  Knox,  the  secretary  of  state  of  the  United 
States,  and  Dr.  de  la  Plaza,  and  subsequently,  when  this  gentleman 
retired  from  the  ministry  for  foreign  affairs,  his  successor,  Senor 
Don  Carlos  Rodriguez  Larreta,  was  added  to  the  list.  Dr.  Antonio 


302  Columbia  University  Quarterly  [June 

Bermejo,  the  chief  justice  of  the  Argentine  Supreme  Court  was 
chosen  president,  and  SefiorDon  Epifanio  Portela,  formerly  Argen- 
tine minister  in  Washington,  general  secretary,  to  whose  efficient 
supervision  of  both  the  technical  and  the  social  features  of  the 
Conference  the  credit  for  much  of  its  success  is  due.  Fourteen 
plenary  sessions  in  all  were  held,  extending  over  a  period  of  seven 
weeks,  or  about  two  weeks  longer  than  the  duration  of  the  preced- 
ing Conference. 

True  to  the  definition  already  given  of  the  purpose  of  the  Con- 
ference, all  topics  of  a  contentious  character  were  carefully  ex- 
cluded from  the  program  as  prepared  by  the  secretary  of  state  and 
the  ministers  from  the  Latin-American  republics,  who  constitute 
the  governing  board  of  the  International  Union  at  Washington. 
Neither  on  the  floor  of  the  assembly  nor  in  the  committee  rooms 
was  any  attempt  made  to  disturb  the  harmony  of  procedure  thus 
encouraged.  Explanation,  discussion,  criticism  were  plentiful 
enough,  but  each  was  undertaken  in  a  frank  and  helpful  spirit  that 
evinced  a  real  appreciation  of  the  problems  up  for  solution  and  a 
genuine  willingness  to  handle  them  as  effectively  as  the  limitations 
of  time  available  and  of  powers  conferred  might  allow.  Pet 
theories  were  not  ventilated,  individual  grievances  were  not  expa- 
tiated upon,  nor  were  mercurial  temperaments  aroused  or  national 
susceptibilities  ruffled.  There  may  have  been  an  occasional  illus- 
tration of  the  adage  that  the  only  Spanish  expression  more  popular 
than  manana  (tomorrow)  is  pasado  manana  (day  after  tomorrow), 
and  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  Conference  might  have  completed 
its  work  sooner ;  but  in  so  doing  the  opportunities  for  an  interchange 
of  views  and  for  the  development  of  personal  friendships  among 
the  delegates,  productive  of  results  as  real  and  positive  as  those 
embodied  in  formal  acts,  would  have  been  correspondingly  lessened. 

In  furthering  an  interchange  of  views  and  in  shaping  procedure 
no  small  element  was  that  furnished  through  the  reports  submitted 
by  some  nineteen  of  the  delegations.  These  reports  dealt  with  the 
action  of  the  respective  governments  upon  the  conventions  and  reso- 
lutions adopted  by  the  Third  Conference,  and  with  the  work  of  the 
Pan-American  committees,  the  creation  of  which  in  each  country 
had  been  recommended  by  that  body  for  the  purpose  of  promoting 


1911]  The  Pan-American  Conference  303 

the  action  in  question.  While  some  of  the  reports  were  too  brief 
to  be  of  much  value,  still  the  majority  of  them  afforded  a  very 
useful  idea  of  the  attitude  of  the  various  governments  toward  the 
Conference  in  general  as  an  institution  as  well  as  a  significant  expla- 
nation of  why  many  of  its  conclusions  in  the  past  have  not  met  with 
favor. 

When  the  Fourth  Conference  brought  its  labors  to  a  close  on 
August  30,  it  had  approved  four  conventions,  twenty-four  resolu- 
tions and  eighteen  motions,  a  material  result  bulking  considerably 
larger  than  that  of  the  four  conventions,  fourteen  resolutions  and 
three  motions  which  emanated  from  its  predecessor  at  Rio  de 
Janeiro.  All  four  of  the  conventions  and  eleven  of  the  resolutions 
had  been  directly  or  indirectly  the  subject  matter  of  conventions 
and  resolutions  framed  by  the  Third  Conference.  The  convention 
on  pecuniary  claims  lays  down  the  broad  principle  of  arbitration 
for  all  controversies  of  the  sort  arising  on  behalf  of  the  citizens  of 
the  several  countries,  which  cannot  be  settled  by  diplomatic  means 
and  which  may  have  an  importance  sufficient  to  justify  recourse  to 
that  procedure.  It  calls  for  the  submission  of  such  cases  to  the 
decision  of  the  Permanent  Court  of  Arbitration  at  The  Hague, 
unless  the  parties  concerned  agree  to  set  up  a  special  jurisdiction, 
and  to  comply  also  with  the  judgment  that  may  be  rendered. 

In  order  to  overcome  certain  fundamental  defects  that  had  pre- 
vented the  ratification  of  the  convention  relative  to  the  protection 
of  copyright,  patents  and  trade-marks,  as  it  had  been  passed  by  the 
Third  Conference,  the  three  subjects  were  embodied  by  the  Fourth 
Conference  in  three  separate  conventions.  According  to  the  first  of 
these  the  signatory  states  obligate  themselves  to  recognize  and  pro- 
tect the  right  to  literary  and  artistic  property  as  therein  defined.  It 
is  stipulated  that  the  recognition  of  property  right  secured  in  one 
state  shall  hold  good  in  all  the  other  states  in  accordance  with  their 
respective  laws,  but  only  on  condition  that  there  shall  appear  in  the 
work  some  statement  indicative  of  the  property  right  reserved.  The 
duration  of  such  right,  furthermore,  can  not  be  extended  beyond  the 
term  of  protection  granted  by  the  country  of  origin.  Similarly,  in 
the  convention  dealing  with  property  right  in  patents  of  invention, 
drawings  and  industrial  models,  it  is  agreed  that  persons  obtaining 


304  Columbia  University  Quarterly  [June 

such  patents  in  any  of  the  signatory  states  shall  enjoy  in  each  of 
the  others  all  the  protection  which  their  respective  laws  on  the  sub- 
ject may  afford.  Certified  copies,  also,  of  patents  granted  by  the 
country  of  origin  are  to  receive  full  faith  and  credit  as  proof  of 
priority,  under  such  restrictions  as  the  necessity  of  guarding  against 
improper  use  of  the  privileges  concerned  may  warrant.  By  the 
convention  on  trade-marks  it  is  declared  that,  when  these  have  been 
duly  registered  in  one  of  the  signatory  states,  they  shall  be  regarded 
as  registered  also  in  the  other  states,  and  that  commercial  names, 
whether  forming  part  of  a  trade-mark  or  not,  shall  be  suitably  pro- 
tected without  the  obligation  of  deposit  or  registry.  The  powers 
and  privileges  requisite  for  the  purpose,  however,  are  made  subject 
to  compliance  with  certain  conditions.  Assuming  that  the  rights 
of  third  parties  have  been  safeguarded  and  that  the  laws  of  the 
countries  in  which  registry  is  to  be  affected  have  been  observed,  the 
merchant  or  manufacturer  interested  in  the  matter  must  pay,  in 
addition  to  the  fees  fixed  by  the  laws  in  question,  a  special  fee  for 
international  registry.  To  these  ends  provision  is  made  for  the 
establishment  of  two  offices  of  registry,  one  at  Havana  for  the 
northern  group  of  nations  and  one  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  for  the 
southern  group,  the  duties  of  both  being  prescribed  in  considerable 
detail. 

The  first  of  the  resolutions  of  the  Conference  to  invite  atten- 
tion is  that  referring  to  appropriate  means  for  commemorating  the 
independence  of  the  American  republics.  It  recommends  that  the 
various  nations  provide  for  the  construction  in  Buenos  Ay  res  of  a 
building  for  the  permanent  exposition  of  the  products  of  their  soil 
and  industry,  and  .that  they  join  in  the  publication  of  a  work  illus- 
trative of  the  events  connected  with  the  period  of  independence. 
So  as  to  show  its  appreciation  of  the  generous  contribution  of 
Andrew  Carnegie  toward  the  erection  of  the  new  home  of  the 
American  republics  in  Washington,  the  conference  resolved  to  pre- 
sent Mr.  Carnegie  with  a  gold  medal  bearing  the  inscription  "  Bene- 
factor of  Humanity."  In  regard  to  the  manner  of  celebrating  the 
opening  of  the  Panama  Canal,  the  Conference  decided  to  refer  the 
whole  question  to  the  governing  board  of  the  International  Union. 
It  observed  the  same  course  of  action  on  the  matter  of  determining 


1911]  The  Pan-American  Conference  305 

the  date,  and  place  for  the  holding  of  the  Fifth  Conference,  fol- 
lowing in  this  respect  the  precedent  set  by  the  Third  Conference. 

Another  resolution  elaborates  a  series  of  provisions  looking  to 
the  reorganization  of  the  International  Bureau  of  the  American 
Republics  at  Washington  on  the  basis  of  a  degree  of  efficiency 
greater  than  it  has  hitherto  been  able  to  possess.  Among  other 
things  it  substitutes  for  the  rather  cumbrous  name  which  that  office 
has  always  borne  the  shorter,  and  in  every  way  more  convenient, 
designation  of  "  Pan-American  Union,"  and  gives  to  its  chief  officer 
the  title  of  director  general.  In  this  connection  some  effort  was 
made  to  have  the  needful  changes  in  the  organization  and  opera- 
tion of  the  Pan-American  Union  put  into  the  more  definitive  form 
of  a  convention;  but  the  Conference  was  willing  to  go  only  so  far 
as  to  pass  an  additional  resolution  embodying  such  changes  in  a 
plan  of  convention.  To  facilitate  the  work  of  the  Pan-American 
Union,  also,  the  Conference  earnestly  recommended  that  hereafter 
all  official  publications  required  by  that  office  be  sent  to  it  more 
regularly  and  in  more  abundant  measure.  Since  this  is  the  first 
time  that  any  Conference  has  shown  itself  inclined  even  to  consider 
the  possibility  of  giving  to  the  Pan-American  Union  the  strength 
and  permanence  that  a  formal  convention  would  assure,  the  fact  is 
to  be  taken  as  a  tribute  to  the  ability  of  the  present  director  general, 
under  whose  administration  the  office  has  arisen  from  the  obscurity 
of  a  routine  bureau  of  commercial  statistics,  little  known  and  but 
slightly  appreciated,  to  the  prominence  of  an  international  agency 
of  general  information  about  American  countries,  the  services  of 
which  are  now  widely  recognized  and  as  widely  employed. 

Six  resolutions  of  the  Conference  deal  with  commercial  rela- 
tions. In  one  of  them  the  various  countries  concerned  are  urged  to 
lend  their  hearty  support  to  the  labors  of  the  permanent  Pan-Ameri- 
can Railway  Committee  of  the  United  States,  by  facilitating  to  the 
utmost  the  completion  of  the  inter-continental  line.  When  this  has 
been  accomplished  a  "great  and  common  desire"  will  have  been 
realized.  Not  content  with  a  resolution  alone,  the  Conference  also 
passed  a  motion  calling  upon  the  American  governments  "  to  prose- 
cute and  hasten  the  work  of  the  Pan-American  Railway  according 
to  a  fixed  and  determined  plan."  That  the  Conference  made  its 
attitude  of  encouragement  so  pronounced  seems  due  to  its  recog- 


306  Columbia  University  Quarterly  [June 

nition  of  the  thorough-going  character  of  the  report  submitted  by 
the  committee  in  question  no  less  than  to  the  merits  of  the  enterprise 
itself. 

Another  resolution  recommends  that  the  various  American 
nations  conclude  conventions  among  themselves  providing  for  a 
direct  and  adequate  steamship  service.  To  this  end  the  vessels  of 
lines  established  through  state  initiative  should  enjoy  at  the  ports 
of  call  every  privilege  that  may  be  granted  to  vessels  flying  the 
flag  of  such  ports,  and  no  railway  rebates  should  be  allowed  which 
are  not  at  the  same  time  accorded  to  the  vessels  engaged  in  direct 
trade  between  the  American  countries.  Plans  should  be  set  on  foot, 
moreover,  to  promote  reciprocal  liberty  of  commerce  in  the  coast- 
ing trade,  to  create  connecting  lines  between  ports  not  having  traffic 
by  American  ships,  to  supply  return  cargoes  warranting  return  ser- 
vice between  the  ports  of  America,  to  assure  direct  banking  and 
cable  service,  and  to  secure  the  adoption  of  a  common  system  of 
weights  and  measures. 

The  Conference  suggested  a  variety  of  means  for  simplifying 
consular  procedure  and  rendering  it  so  far  as  possible  uniform,  and 
for  facilitating  also  the  despatch  of  goods  through  the  customs.  It 
defined  at  some  length  the  exceedingly  useful  duties  of  the  Section 
of  Commerce,  Customs  and  Statistics,  the  formation  of  which  as  a 
part  of  the  Pan-American  Union  had  been  recommended  by  the 
Conference  at  Rio  de  Janeiro.  In  this  connection,  furthermore,  it 
warmly  endorsed  the  acts  of  the  various  conferences  on  sanitary 
police,  which,  if  observed,  would  tend  to  lessen  the  dangers  that 
still  obstruct  the  material  development  of  some  of  the  American 
countries. 

Along  educational  lines  in  the  broad  sense  the  Fourth  Confer- 
ence expressed  its  appreciation  of  the  results  achieved  by  the  first 
Pan-American  Scientific  Congress,  held  at  Santiago,  Chile,  in  De- 
cember, 1908,  as  well  as  by  the  International  American  Scientific 
Congress  held  at  Buenos  Ayres  in  July  of  1910.  It  urged  the  tak- 
ing of  a  census  of  population  every  ten  years  and  in  1920  the  taking 
of  a  general  census  of  population,  industry  and  whatever  else  that 
"  science  and  practice  may  render  advisable."  As  a  further  agency 
for  the  diffusion  of  information  among  the  republics  of  America,  the 
Conference  recommended  the  creation  of  national  offices  of  bibli- 


1911]  The  Pan-American  Conference  307 

ography  similar  to  those  recently  founded  in  the  Argentine  Re- 
public, Chile  and  Peru. 

Though  in  expression  and  in  the  probability  of  its  speedy  reali- 
zation little  more  than  a  pious  wish,  the  plan  outlined  by  the  Con- 
ference for  an  interchange  of  professors  and  students  among  the 
universities  of  America  is  of  such  interest  to  educators  as  to  war- 
rant its  statement  in  full.  It  runs  as  follows : 


"The  Fourth  International  American  Conference  assembled  at 
Buenos  Ayres  resolves : 

To  recommend  to  the  governments  of  America  in  behalf  of  the 
universities  dependent  upon  them  and  to  the  universities  recognized 
by  those  governments  that  they  establish  an  interchange  of  profes- 
sors on  the  following  bases : 

1.  The  universities  are  to  grant  such  facilities  as  may  be  re- 
quired to  enable  exchange  professors  to  give  courses  or  lectures. 

2.  The  courses  or  lectures  are  to  deal  chiefly  with  scientific 
matters  of  American  interest  or  which  bear  upon  the  conditions 
prevailing  in  some  American  country,  particularly  that  from  which 
the  professor  comes. 

3.  Every  year  the  universities  are  to  communicate  to  the  insti- 
tutions with  which  they  may  wish  to  arrange  for  an  interchange 
the  subject  matters  taught  by  their  respective  professors  and  those 
which  they  would  like  to  have  treated. 

4.  The  remuneration  of  the  professors  is  to  be  provided  for  by 
the  university  appointing  him,  unless  his  services  shall  have  been 
expressly  requested,  in  which  case  his  remuneration  is  to  be  charged 
to  the  university  inviting  him. 

5.  Out  of  their  own  funds,  if  they  have  any,  or  out  of  such  as 
may  be  obtained  on  application  to  the  respective  governments,  the 
universities  are  to  fix  annually  the  amounts  required  to  meet  the 
expenses  which  compliance  with  the  present  resolution  may  entail. 

6.  It  would  be  desirable  to  have  the  universities  of  America 
meet  in  a  congress  to  promote  university  extension  and  other  means 
of  intellectual  cooperation  in  America. 

II 

The  Fourth  International  American  Conference  believes,  fur- 
thermore, that,  in  order  to  strengthen  the  sentiment  of  solidarity 
among  all  the  states  of  the  continent  an  interchange  of  students 
among  the  universities  of  America  would  be  very  useful,  and 
accordingly  resolves : 


308  Columbia  University  Quarterly  [June 

1.  To  recommend  that  the  universities  of  America  establish 
scholarships  in  favor  of  students  from  the  other  American  coun- 
tries, with  or  without  reciprocity,  adopting  for  the  purpose,  either 
directly  or  through  the  agency  of  the  governments  upon  which  they 
depend,  the  measures  needful  to  carry  the  agreement  into  practical 
effect. 

2.  Each  university  that  may  have  established  scholarships  is  to 
appoint  a  committee  charged  with  the  duty  of  supervising  the 
holders  of  such  scholarships,  guiding  them  in  their  studies  and 
determining  upon  whatever  measures  may  be  necessary  to  assure 
their  compliance  with  the  duties  imposed. 

3.  The  university  in  which  a  foreign  student  of  the  sort  is 
matriculated  is  to  have  him  assigned  to  the  proper  course  with  due 
regard  to  the  respective  curriculum  and  regulations. 

Although  the  various  conventions  and  resolutions,  of  which  a 
brief  account  has  been  given,  are  purely  tentative  in  character,  and 
although  some,  if  not  many,  of  them  may  never  be  ratified  by  the 
governments  of  all  the  republics,  this  is  no  reason  why  the  advo- 
cates of  Pan- Americanism  should  feel  discouraged  at  the  apparently 
meager  results  of  a  positive  sort.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the 
Pan-American  Conference  is  not  properly  a  legislative  body  having 
a  will  to  be  obeyed  or  a  mandate  to  be  enforced.  It  is  simply  a 
deliberative  assembly  the  function  of  which  is  to  offer  the  advice  of 
chosen  minds  on  matters  that  affect  the  common  good  of  twenty- 
one  nations,  possessing  an  aggregate  population  of  more  than  a 
hundred  and  fifty  millions  spread  over  the  enormous  area  of  two 
continents,  of  twenty-one  republics  whose  power  and  prosperity  in 
many  cases  have  but  fairly  begun.  One  can  hardly  expect  that 
countries  so  widely  separated,  so  diverse  in  origin  and  so  unequal 
in  point  of  development  should  accept  instantly  and  without  ques- 
tion whatever  their  representatives  in  international  council  may 
propose.  Isolated  in  every  sense  far  more  than  the  states  of  Europe 
are,  they  recognize,  nevertheless,  the  substantial  identity  of  their 
interests  and  hence  look  to  the  Pan-American  Conference  for  ac- 
quaintance without  alliance,  suggestion  without  compulsion  and 
guidance  without  tutelage.  These  are  the  elements  of  cooperation 
which  promote  the  realization  of  their  essential  unity  of  thought 
and  purpose,  which  serve  to  link  their  destinies,  and  these  they 
welcome. 

WILLIAM  R.  SHEPHERD 


Syracuse,  N.  Y.    ^^^^ 
PAT,  JAN.  21, 1908 


